Day 12 Naval Museum

Firstly – I am not sure who is reading this. It doesnot bother me as long as people know that it is just what I would right in a diary – not necessarily good English or correct spelling or correct information ( tho’ nothing is deliberately incorrect)

The day started slowly. I had had a bad dream last night and decided I wanted to talk to some family. As luck would have it, W was visiting C . It took a bit of effort but I finally got onto both of them and my elder granddaughter was still awake, so that was a bonus. I then went to the Naval Museum which I thought was terrific. There were floors and floors of things. I skipped over all the modern stuff – lots of models of ships, guns ,engines and things – I know nothing about how engines work, but oars and sails I understand. There were models of all sizes of all sorts of boats – dating back to a Phoenecian one . The triremes were interesting – other countries have the 3 rows one on top of one another, but the Venetians usually had 3 oarsmen to a bench. The 3 oars were different lengths (i.e. the inside rower’s oar was the longest) so the blades were together and , assuming the models were to scale, each of the 3 rowlocks were less than a forearm apart. Crabs would not be a good idea! There was a real oar – 56kg . Among other things that I was interested in was a model of a series of masts and pulleys and things designed to pull a huge galley over onto its side to have its keel cleaned ; a series of drawings of how they brought a large sunken galley to the surface with other boats with pulleys all around it and counter weights in other boats and lots of maps of the Arsenale when it was in full production . There were clothes but nothing older than 18th century. Mind you I quite fancied the 18 th C officers overcoats – a dark blue felted material with a long haired furry red collar, red piping down the front edges and around the sleeves, nice gold buttons down half way and a sort of overlap in the front. Would have suited Canberra winter nicely.

Next I went to another church – I am getting a bit tired of them. This one, San Zaccaria, was attached to the most influential convent of the city. Only daughters of the most important noble families were accepted. Once a year the nuns put on a big party for the Doge and all his hanger-ons. Throughout the year they had soirees and assorted parties. I was sitting quietly looking at a Bellini and reading my notes about it when I was descended upon and surrounded by a German tour group ( not a swarm – little things swarm- or a gaggle – they were quietish ) At least the guide put a coin in the box to light the painting.

I then caught the vaporetto to the Lido - a slender sandbank 12km long and about 1/2km wide that forms a natural barrier between Venice and the open sea. At the beginning of the 20th C it was one of Europe’s most fashionable seaside resorts. Now it’s a residential suburb with some large old jaded looking hotels – at least the part I went to – maybe there are other modern fancy hotels. I walked from the ferry terminal the 500m or so to the ‘beach’ . On my last trip to Italy I made some quite disparaging remarks about the ‘beach’ near Ravenna that I went to. Well I take them all back because compared to the Lido where the ‘sand’ was a revoltingly putrid shade of dark grey, the trees were dead ( maybe deciduous I suppose), there was earthmoving equipment everywhere, the public beach seemed to have no facilities ( I suppose it is still very out-of-season), the one bar was overpriced, etc – Ravenna was good. I sat outside in the main street having a sandwich and glass of wine – quite civilized.

Back in the main part of Venice I visited Casa di Goldini. Goldini wrote plays in the mid 1700s. I mainly went because the book said it had a good example of an original internal courtyard. It also was one of the Museums on my museum pass and thus included and museums have loos, that once you are inside the museum, are free. There was a display of puppets which were a major source of entertainment in the 18th C.

I then continued my trawl of bookshops trying to find a book on Carpaccio in English with no success so I went back to the Accadamia – the main art gallery. Their bookshop was inside the building – not on the outside like most are – so I was not sure if they would let me in. I certainly was not going to pay another ^.50 euros ( they are not covered by the museum pass) I told them in my best Italian what I wanted and they just let me in – so I wandered around again and bought a book on Carpaccio in Italian. I wandered home via a coffee shop and then an icecream shop taking a few photos of things that I had forgotten and watching some gondoliers convince some would-be customers to go with them, then race back to get their gondolas out of the ‘parking lot’ and very skillfully maneuver back to their waiting customers on the wharf, dodging the returning gondolas, carrying out several conversations with their mates all doing the same thing – organized chaos.

Earlier in the afternoon I was standing behind an elderly woman in a coffee / icecream shop. She had a walking stick, a long fur coat, a jaunty red beret, sensible shoes, nice slacks and when she turned around I saw she had bright red lipstick just the colour of her beret, and she had just brought an icecream cone. I reckon she had to have been in her late eighties.

I am not sure how much is ‘reasonable’ internet use in this apartment and will not post any more photos till I get to London.